INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — There are reportedly spirits that have taken residence in downtown Indianapolis.
Hauntings at the Athenaeum are not only fascinating to hear about, but they also attract paranormal investigators.
In fact, on Saturday, 50 ghost hunters will spend the night at the Athenaeum, hoping to experience something "other-worldly."
The Athenaeum has a rich cultural history.
It was originally known as "Das Deutsche Haus," a hub of activity for the German-American community in Indy.
Even now, it is often bustling by day.
But when the sun goes down, the Athenaeum's celestial secrets come out.
"The inside at night of this space is quite the active place," said Craig Mince, president of the Athenaeum Foundation.
For years, staff members have described strange encounters with things that go bump in the night.
"I've seen stuff, heard stuff, felt stuff," explained David Johnson, the Athenaeum's facilities manager for the past 13 years. "There's Henry, that's what we call him. Henry's the ghost that resides on the third floor, and he'll cut the lights off and hit the lights on and then close the door, open the door. And like in my office, the hallway in our office, the lights come on randomly, go off randomly. I've even been in one of the rooms, the door shut and somebody knocked on the door and nobody's there."
"I've had people in the last couple of ghost hunts who've been drug along by their friends and they're like 'Get me outta here! This place is crazy,' you know?" Mince said.
The Atheneaum is reportedly one of the most haunted buildings in Indiana.
Mince said there are 14 hot spots with at least seven spirits roaming the building that people have seen or heard.
"This was an amazing German community center that a lot of families loved and spent a lot of time here and even in the afterlife, it seems like a lot of people still spend a lot of time here," Mince said with a laugh.
Johnson said he didn't used to believe in ghosts. But he does now.
And that first haunting, experienced at night in a hallway really got to him.
He said he saw a man and woman walk into the theater after hours.
"I'm probably 10 maybe 12 feet away from them and you know, I call for them and tell them that we're closed, but they just keep walking, continue walking to the theater," Johnson said. "So I follow them in. Every door's locked, every window's locked. They come through the theater, go around the corner, and they just disappear. ... That was probably the most frightening that I've ever been. I locked up and left!"
Staffers have also seen that couple dancing through the tables and chairs in the theater.
They've seen ghostly children giggling, a woman in white at the YMCA and upstairs, in the old costuming room, which they call "Grandma's Attic", paranormal activity spikes in the dark.
Ghost hunters claim they've encountered one spirit in particular a lot.
Dr. Helene Knabe, a German immigrant, taught sports medicine at the Athenaeum when it was a college.
She was the victim of a grisly murder in her apartment nearby.
"She didn't show up for work and they found her, throat slit," Mince shared. "The murderer never was found, but then later on, you know, years later, she started to be one of the residents here at the Athenaeum in the after hours."
All that haunted history is why paranormal investigators are so drawn to this place.
Overnight Saturday, they're hoping to experience and document the unexplained.
"I believe what I saw 100 percent, 100 percent," Johnson said. "I mean, the building's 124 years old. So you know, it's bound to have something here."
The ghost tour Saturday is from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. It is sold out, but they're planning another tour in May and October.
If you'd like to see what happens, WTHR's Jennie Runevitch will share a couple of Facebook Live's on the WTHR Facebook page overnight Saturday. She'll also be live on Sunrise Sunday morning, to let us know what the paranormal investigators encountered. You can watch the full recap next week on Eyewitness News.